When I lived in Canberra, this blog was a diary of my lunchtime adventures in the Australian National Botanic Gardens. Seeing so many interesting things each lunchtime gave me the idea to practice my photography and share my experiences. In 2011 I moved to Brisbane and gained a position as a research scientist at CSIRO. This blog follows my latest adventures as I learn about the wonderful wildlife in this region.

Thursday, 18 March 2010

First adventure

So, Ive managed to remember the golden rule of photography - bring a camera. Fortunately, I also remembered rule number 2 - bring spare batteries - as my batteries died after I took my first photo of the garden sign!

I headed to my favourite bench for lunch - its the furthest one Ive found from a main path, in a sunny Eucalyptus glade...

The garden is full of birds and butterflies today as it is beautifully warm and sunny. I could hear buzzing and bird calls all around me as I ate my sandwiches. A Red Wattlebird - Anthochaera carunculata sat in a Eucalyptus nearby. According to the botanical garden bird guide, The red wattlebird is "one of the most common (and raucous) birds in the Gardens. They are generally seen feeding on the nectar of the many banksias, waratahs and grevilleas. Red Wattlebirds (named because of the red lobes of skin, called 'wattles', at the side of the neck) also feed on insects and fruit. They occur naturally in native forests and woodlands of southern Australia and are common in parks and gardens".

After lunch I just did a little circuit of the glade. I took a picture of the very attractive local native plant Lambertia Formosa or the wonderfully named 'Mountain devil', only found on the coast and adjacent mountains of New South Wales. It usually flowers in winter or spring, but evidently some flowers can be present all year. The black dots are ants crawling over the lovely flower...

I also spied some nest boxes, or perhaps bat boxes, I'm not sure who they are for, I will try to find out...

On my way back to my office I spied this tiny little fellow, I couldn't get a good picture of him (I should learn how to manual focus...):

I've not seen a little bird like this before so I looked him up, he appears to be a Red Browed FinchNeochmia temporalis.

1 comment:

Mystery boxes: According to Robyn Lawrence who commented on my link on facebook, there are both bat boxes and sugar glider boxes in the Gardens. Robyn thinks they might be the old bat boxes, as the sugar gliders ones are more intact. The bat's were a research project from years ago.

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About Me

My name is Dr Hazel Parry and I work for CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences as a Research Scientist. I specialise in spatial ecology and ecological modelling.
My research interests include: agent-based and individual-based modelling, computer simulation of crop pest population dynamics and dispersal, grid computing, geographical information systems, environmentally sensitive farming and predicting the implications of policy and environmental change for agricultural landscapes.
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